Gainesville Sun

FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT GAINESVILLE SUN - PAGE 3

Posted by Barbara Hijek on November 12, 2009 06:35 AM, November 12, 2009

DUH of the day. Make that a double DUH. Bad enough that Joel M. Small, 20, was arrested by Gainesville Police and charged with burglary and grand theft. But the break-in happened at the same home Small was convicted of targeting in early 2008. Cops arrested Small on charges of breaking into the bedroom of a 77-year-old woman, stealing $4 worth of quarters and 11 pairs of athletic shoes worth more than $1,400. Cops connected Small to the crime scene based on blood and fingerprints left behind at the scene, reports the Gainesville Sun. And get this: Small was released from state prison just nine days before the break-in.

Posted by Barbara Hijek on December 11, 2009 07:00 AM, December 11, 2009

Ready to rock? "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is coming to Gainesville. But here's the news: They're going to knock down a home with guitars. The home belongs to Tobin and Jill Wagstaff and their four kids. They run a nonprofit music school out of the house, which had a rotting floor and roof along with a faulty electrical system, reports the Gainesville Sun. David Harper of Harper's Wood Shop in Starke built the guitars from yellow pine. One is 17 feet long and 14 inches deep.

Whoops. A helicopter already had a trauma patient on board when more trouble arrived. A flying duck shattered the windshield and landed in the cockpit, reports the Gainesville Sun. The Shandscair medical helicopter in Gainesville was flying at 700 feet and at a speed of 160 mph and preparing to land on the rooftop helipad when the duck hit. The duck shattered the windshield, then struck the pilot, cutting his face and injuring one eye. The bird clipped...

Posted by Barbara Hijek on December 22, 2009 06:30 AM, December 22, 2009

We've already blogged about one Zombie hoax in Gainesville. Here's another: Drivers on West University Avenue saw a Florida Department of Transportation traffic sign that carried the warning: "ZOMBIE ATTACK!! EVACUATE." It was a hoax. Someone had hacked the message on the sign, either by telephone or working directly at the sign itself, FDOT spokeswoman Gina Busscher said, reports the Gainesville Sun. The correct message was restored, notifying motorists they might have to stop for roadwork between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. They also padlocked the sign-control apparatus.

Michel K. Ochi, 91, professor emeritus at the University of Florida in the Department of Coastal and Oceanographic Engineering, is accused of beating his wife, reports the Gainesville Sun. Responding deputies, who had to force the couple's door open, found Ochi standing above his wife with a broom, which deputies believe he used to beat her. His wife was on the floor crying in a fetal position, according to reports....

Bored? Then try visiting a library, watching a movie, volunteering or taking a class. But don't do what this dude is accused of doing. Daron Nakei Brown, an 18-year-old Gainesville man on a dirt bike, is charged with leading cops on a chase that hit 80 mph through a city soccer field and over several streets before he was apprehended, reports The Gainesville Sun. Brown later allegedly told police he fled because “I was bored....

Two cops were interviewing a suspect in a criminal mischief case when the man's girlfriend, Rhawnlie Ann Brown, 28 approached them and told them repeatedly she would “stab him in the chest” if he wasn't jailed, according to Gainesville cops, reports The Gainesville Sun. Brown then reached into the basket of her bike, retrieved an item from it and then threw a small kitchen paring knife at her boyfriend's back from about 20-feet away --...

Cassandra Leigh White Carson, 50, allegedly shoplifted $300 worth of merchandise from Kohl's before leaving the Gainesville store where cops were waiting for her in the parking lot, reports The Gainesville Sun. Carson got into her car and quickly backed it up toward one of the officers, who had to get out of the way, before driving toward another cop at high speed, police said. The 50-year-old Gainesville woman got away...but not for long: Carson was stopped nearby by other responding cops.

It's true. Some folks just ain't got the brains God gave a squirrel , according to the old adage. Especially when it comes to their guns. William Daniel Lloyd, 31, allegedly tried to shoot a squirrel by taping a .40-caliber cartridge to a BB gun, according to Gainesville cops, reports The Gainesville Sun. His plan backfired: Lloyd was transported to a hospital with shrapnel wounds after the cartridge exploded, Gainesville police reported. Photo: Mug shot from the Florida Department of Correction, which shows Lloyd served time in 2009 for Grand Theft and Trafficking in Stolen Property.

Some folks really go out on a limb to get busted. Even under normal circumstances cops would have a hard time missing a speeding truck with sparks flying on the road from a dragged chain - but this pickup was also dragging a tree, Gainesville cops said, reports The Gainesville Sun. The driver, identified as Daniel Totulis, 21, allegedly told officers that he wanted to take a test to see if he was drunk. How poorly did he do before cops dragged him to the pokey?